The below content is done by them, and reposed by me to help spread the word , show their efforts, and thank the sponsors. Off we go!

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Who We Are

Brian Knudtson

Brian self describes as a “community guy” and believes that the power of a passionate bunch of people is something to behold. He currently works at SimpliVity Corp and likes to point out that “Technical” comes before “Marketing” in his title. Being the most consistent VMware conference attendee of the group, Brian has become the de facto leader of this circus. God help us all. Blogs at http://www.knudt.net/vblog. Tweets at @bknudtson. More bio on ourFounders page (because…you know…deduplication).

Jim Millard

Jim is the team’s newest addition, proving himself as ticketing maven and content jockey during his 2013 rookie year. In his day job, he delivers enterprise solutions and support to a variety of clients—often based on one of Brian’s designs. Jim has been a member of the leadership team for the Kansas City VMUG chapter since early 2007; like Brian, he is also a six-time vExpert, and also holds multiple VCP and VCAP certifications (albeit not as many). You can find his sometime-virtualization-related blogs at http://blog.millard.org and can follow him on Twitter @millardjk

Every year, we try to put together something new to improve the VMunderground experience. In the past, it’s mostly been based around increasing the number of people we can accommodate, which has required ticketing and venue changes over the years. Last year, we feel we found the proper venue to enable us to bring in the right number of people, with room to still grow. To that end, we were able to eliminate the need for tickets this year.

Last year, we worked with the vBrownBag crew to add an educational component to what we provide. Already having a large venue we simply added additional hours to the venue rental and were able to introduce Opening Acts. This proved to be such a huge success that I ended the event realizing that we couldn’t NOT bring Opening Acts back. Fortunately, the level of success didn’t necessitate too much improvement, so you’ll see some minor tweaks, but they’ll be minor.

A common criticism of the traditional conference circuit is the overemphasis on alcohol consumption. While most of the VMunderground crew are perfectly happy to network over a variety of alcoholic beverages, by no means is that a requirement for any of us. I have great conversations all week at VMworld over coffee, soda and even water, so I am by no means pushing off the fun conversations for when the beer flows. To provide better options to those who prefer (or simply cannot) partake in the “adult beverages” we have added a full smoothie bar to the menu at VMunderground.

This year, we also wanted to improve the ability for community events at both VMworld conferences to obtain sponsors, so we gathered with the teams that put on vBrownBag TechTalks, Spousetivities and vRockStar to put together a series of packages to make it easy for vendors to sponsor multiple of these events in one shot. The feedback (and signup rate) have been very positive. I’m proud to announce the following sponsors have chosen to take advantage of these packages and will be the first to take advantage of this opportunity:

We’d like to give special thanks to these companies for truly getting and appreciating our little community. VMworld simply would not be the same without companies like these. Give them (and all our sponsors) a special thank you before VMworld, then stop into their booths during the show to let them scan your badge and give your appreciation in person!

2015 Sponsors

Based on a crazy-committed platform of engagement, experience and excellence,Unitrends is the fastest-rising cost/value provider in the IT protection and disaster recovery industry. Our unique multi-environment arsenal of backup, archiving and disaster recovery solutions gives you the industry-leading technology you need to protect and preserve your physical, virtual, and cloud environments at the most affordable pricing available.

Infinio offers downloadable storage performance for virtual environments. Our software-only solution uses existing server resources to deliver the IOPS your virtualized applications and desktops demand — all with no new hardware, no reboots and no downtime. Learn more at www.infinio.com.

Next-generation IT requires a new way of thinking about infrastructure. To be ready for the next set of application demands and the expectations of its uses, the unification of networking, computing, management, security, and storage is a must, all while focusing on the application and what the application requires of the infrastructure. Cisco Data Center and Application-Centric Infrastructure solutions are poised to increase operating efficiencies, simplify IT operations, and enable business agility. Cisco solutions for business applications, cloud, big data, desktop virtualization, and data center mobility help ensure that your business data is transported securely, efficiently, and flexibly across a set of optimized data center resources. To learn more, visit www.cisco.com/go/dc

OneCloud Software simply and cost effectively unlocks the power of the cloud as a secure extension of your enterprise data center. Through its patented Automated Cloud Engine™ (ACE), OneCloud auto-discovery quickly and simply sets up a cost optimized replica of your data center in the cloud. The policy capability then allows you to set business driven protection guidelines for all your applications and data. The result is the automation, scalability and efficiency necessary to use a hybrid cloud for applications such as disaster recovery and business continuity. OneCloud Software, Simplifying the Cloud.

Analytics is changing the nature of IT operations, enabling companies to shift from reactive to preemptive management of their environments. CloudPhysics makes it possible for vSphere users to use data-driven analytics to preempt and eliminate operational hazards that threaten disrupt infrastructure and applications. Check out our Free Edition atwww.cloudphysics.com/get-cloudphysics.

VMUG is the largest independent customer-led VMware user group in the world, offering all the resources you need to maximize your use of VMware. Visit http://www.vmug.com and follow us on Twitter @MyVMUG to discover all that VMUG has to offer. And don’t forget to visit our booth while you’re at VMworld!

At Rackspace, we’ll design, build, and run the best cloud for your unique needs—backed by the results-obsessed service that we call Fanatical Support®. It’s what the commodity cloud providers can’t deliver. Our managed cloud experts remove the hidden costs and headaches, so you can run your business.

The Virtualization Technology User Group (VTUG) is an IT professional user group with thousands of members and is growing every day. VTUG is the only virtualization user group of its size that is platform independent providing information content and education for ESX, Hyper-V, KVM and Xen. VTUG topics cover a wide range of technologies and solutions including server virtualization, storage, cloud computing, VDI, back up and data protection, security, networking and much more. VTUG looks to its community for peer to peer education and sharing of best practices and solutions. Join for free atwww.vtug.com.

Only SolidFire’s all-flash array is capable of powering the VMware Software Defined Data Center. VMware’s vision to drive increased VM-awareness and management granularity at the storage system layer pairs extremely well with SolidFire’s Quality of Service architecture and guaranteed performance to each VM. SolidFire is purpose-built for the Software Defined Data Center and key benefits include simplified management, end-to-end Quality of Service, and deep integration with VAAI, SIOC, VVols and VASA. Guaranteed storage performance to every application.www.solidfire.com

Founded in 2004, Pluralsight is the global leader in online learning for serious software developers, IT specialists and creative technologists. As the world’s largest curated e-learning library for professionals, the company offers instant access to more than 3,000 courses authored by top experts. With customers in more than 150 countries, Pluralsight serves as a career catalyst, delivering hands-on, practical training for the most in-demand and understaffed jobs of today. For more information visit www.pluralsight.com.

EMC Elect is a community-driven recognition and thank you for individual’s engagement with EMC as a brand over the last calendar year. Members of this peer nominated and peer reviewed group demonstrate outstanding Engagement, Commitment, and Leadership within the online community. Find out more about the EMC Elect and the EMC Community Network at community.emc.com.

Brocade® networking solutions help the world’s leading organizations transition smoothly to a world where applications and information reside anywhere. Today, Brocade is extending its proven data center expertise across the entire network with future-proofed solutions built for critical initiatives such as consolidation, virtualization, and cloud computing.

Here we go: the home stretch before VMworld 2015 US opens in San Francisco, CA— and that means it’s also the kick-off for Opening Acts II and VMunderground. In the short few days before, we thought we’d pass along a few items of note…

Where we’ll be

You can enter from either the Fourth Street or Yerba Buena Park entrances. Take the elevators or escalators up to the top floor.

VMunderground

This is an adults-only party. We will be serving alcohol, and whether you plan to consume or not, it’s the law of the land that attendees have aged 21 years. You will need to provide proof of your age with a government-issued photo ID; driver’s license or passport are acceptable examples.

Wear your name tag! It’s a great way to reconnect with friends old and new.

Doors open at 8pm. Those holding VIP passes will be admitted at 7:30pm, but if we reach capacity after the doors open, your pass won’t guarantee admittance. Fire Marshall’s rules won’t be bent, period.

Final Thoughts

Don’t forget our sponsors! Not only will they be present during the events, but they’ll be around all week at the conference. Let them know how much you enjoyed the events of the day: the more positive feedback they receive, the more likely they’ll be willing to continue supporting us.